New York Rangers: An update on the departed
When the New York Rangers trade any players away, there is always fear that the team has given up much-needed talent. It’s the dreaded “mortgaging the future” factor also known as “Rick Middleton Redux.”
This season there have been five Blueshirts who became “former New York Rangers.” One was lost on waivers, two were traded to clear cap space and two were sent away in trade deadline deals. With the season winding down, it’s worth a look at how our former heroes are faring with their new teams. For the Rangers, it’s not bad. For the former Blueshirts, for the most part, it’s not very good.
We’ll start with a player who had tantalized the fanbase for years after being an off-board first-round draft selection.
Vitali Kravtsov
New York Rangers: 28 games, 3 goals, 6 points, 11:25 ATOI
Vancouver Canucks: 13 games, 0 goals, 1 point, 10:46 ATOI
When Chris Drury swapped Vitali Kravtsov to the Vancouver Canucks for a 2025 seventh-round pick and someone named William Lockwood, he took a lot of criticism for giving up on the ninth overall pick in the 2018 draft. It was time for Ranger fans to hold their breath and watch him blossom with regular shifts on an inferior team.
Okay fans, you can breathe again. Believe it or not, Kravtsov is not coming close to his production with the Rangers while with the Canucks. He is actually playing fewer minutes per game than he did in New York and he has all of one assist in 13 games and has been a healthy scratch the last two games for Vancouver.
It’s probably too early to write Kravtsov off as a draft bust, but it’s a fact that he is not generating any headlines in Vancouver. With Lockwood, a Group 6 UFA after this season, getting just a 7th-round pick in two years may have been a realistic return for the enigmatic Russian.
The next player was one who came to New York with high hopes but had a tenure here that was beset by bad luck. He desperately needed a change of scenery.
Sammy Blais
New York Rangers: 40 games, 0 goals, 5 points, 119 hits, 9:38 ATOI
St. Louis Blues: 26 games, 8 goals, 18 points, 106 hits, 14:39 ATOI
Okay, this one is hard to explain. Sammy Blais played 54 games for New York without scoring a goal and notching nine assists. Returned to the Blues in the Vladimir Tarasenko deal, he has lit the lamp, scoring eight goals and 18 points in 26 games. Inexplicable.
Not so inexplicable actually. First off, Blais is finally getting healthy and appears fully recovered from his knee injury. It was clear that he was not 100% when this season started and there was no room for him to get the playing time he needed to round his game into shape.
Also, with the Blues, he has played mostly on a top-six line with Brayden Schenn and Brandon Saad and is averaging a full five minutes more playing time per game than he did in New York. It’s also important that he was able to finally score his first goal in two seasons and that had to give him the confidence he needed. Not only that, but it happened in his first game back with the Blues.
It’s sad that Ranger fans were never able to see the Sammy Blais we thought we had traded for before last season. We can thank a slew foot from P.K. Subban for that. In a very savvy move, Blues GM Doug Armstrong signed Blais to a one-year extension for $1 million for next season. If he continues to play like this, it will be a steal.
Next up, an enforcer who fulfilled a role in his first season with the team, but became a luxury the Rangers couldn’t afford.
Ryan Reaves
New York Rangers: 12 games, 0 goals, 0 points, 44 hits, 8:27 ATOI
Minnesota Wild: 55 games, 5 goals, 9 points, 138 hits, 9:13 ATOI
There were some eyebrows raised when Chris Drury sent Ryan Reaves to the Minnesota Wild for a 2025 5th-round draft pick, but the deal has worked out for both teams. Reaves revived his career in Minnesota and is beloved by the fanbase. Getting rid of Reaves gave Drury cap flexibility to make his deadline deals.
Offensively, Reaves has equaled his production from last season with the Rangers but has done it all in Minnesota, one of the teams in the West. The Wild needed his physical play and locker room presence and it was simply a matter of taking his act to another city.
Reaves had two fights while with the Rangers and has had four bouts (won them all) with the Wild. The six fights are the most he has had in one season since 2014-15. He is a UFA after this season and the 36-year-old may have found a new home in the Twin Cities if he is willing to sign for close to the league minimum.
The Rangers gave up a fifth-round pick to get Reaves from Vegas so getting a fifth-round pick back seems like a fair trade.
Next up is a player who was a favorite of Gerard Gallant, but whose greatest attribute was his work ethic, not his skill.
Dryden Hunt
New York Rangers: 3 games, 1 goal, 1 point, 11 hits, 8:49 ATOI
Colorado Avalanche: 25 games, 1 goal, 1 point, 58 hits, 7:51 ATOI
Toronto Maple Leafs: 9 games, 1 goal, 1 point, 31 hits, 8:26 ATOI
Claimed on waivers by Colorado after only three games with the Rangers, Dryden Hunt helped filled out an Avalanche roster decimated by injuries. When they got healthy, they swapped him with the Maple Leafs for center Denis Malgin. After a cup of coffee in Toronto he was sent to the Calgary Flames for Radim Zahorna. He was immediately sent to the AHL where he is currently playing.
Hunt has scored one goal for each of his three NHL teams this season and has made his mark with his physical play, the reason most coaches are enamored of him. But despite that fact, his lack of offensive production that dogged him in New York has continued and he remains a marginal NHL player.
The fact is that Hunt was signed as a UFA for the NHL minimum and he helped fill out the Rangers roster. He cost next to nothing and the Rangers got nothing in return for him.
Our last of “the departed” is a player who had a lot of fans among the Blueshirts Faithful, but that was based on glimpses of size, speed, and skill and not on results.
Julien Gauthier
New York Rangers: 40 games, 6 goals, 9 points, 70 hits, 8:21 ATOI
Ottawa Senators: 14 games, 2 goals, 4 points, 28 hits, 9:51 ATOI
The Rangers finally gave up on Julien Gauthier, trading him along with a 7th-round pick to Ottawa for Tyler Motte. This is despite the fact that at times, Gauthier flashed the skill that had made him a first-round draft pick by the Carolina Hurricanes (21st overall in 2016).
While he is playing slightly more for Ottawa than New York, his production remains on par with his time with the Rangers. The 25-year-old has two goals and four points in 14 games and is averaging 9:51 minutes of ice time, more than the 8:21 he averaged with the Blueshirts. He totaled six goals and nine points in 40 games on Broadway.
It should surprise no one that he hasn’t lit up the scoreboard, despite an opportunity to make a statement for a non-playoff-bound team. Considering that he has been a healthy scratch the last four games, the question is whether the Senators will qualify Gauthier, an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent.
Gauthier came cheap. Joey Keane, the defenseman they traded to get Gauthier, couldn’t stick with the Hurricanes and is playing in the KHL. The fact that they got Tyler Motte for the playoff run this season may end up being Gauthier’s biggest contribution to the Rangers.
Wrapping up
While Sammy Blais and Ryan Reaves have found success in their new homes, it’s doubtful that they would have had the same opportunities in New York. As for Vitali Kravtsov and Julien Gauthier, they appear destined to be ready to join the long list of first-round draft disappointments. Hopefully, it is too soon for both of them, but their time is running out. Meanwhile, Dryden Hunt is toiling in the AHL, not good enough to stick with the four NHL teams he was with this season.
So, let’s give Chris Drury some kudos for making solid personnel decisions. It’s even fair to say that his assessment when he acquired Sammy Blais was spot on, but it was ill-fated and doomed to not happen in New York.
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